Knife sharpening machine



A118? 7 1951 y E. ROEDER 2,563,373

KNIFE SHARPENING MACHINE Filed July 5, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet l 67 fo HHM 565. 662

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Aug. 7, 1951 E. RoEDER 2,563,373

KNIFE SHARPENING MACHINE Filed July 5, 1947v 4 shegts-sheet 2 :Illll mum Aug. 7, 1951 E. RoEDx-:R 2,563,373

KNIFE SHARPENING MACHINE Filed July 5, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Aug 7, 1951E. ROEDERA KNIFE SHAR-PENING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed July 5,1947I 6 4 o a 5 J Z m Mw V ff/ f f 1/ l //H/ W a0 M z 11 zi. 1/ /f/r,//f 1/ 7 u N Z w m 7 6 J my h il 40. l

Era/fo jaaederl Patented Aug. 7, 1951 UNITED STATS Fredi' OFFICE'v KNIFEsHARrENINo. MACHINE Erwin Roeder, Ebenezer, N. Y. Application July 5,1947, serial No. 759,085

I'his invention relates to a knife-sharpening machine, and moreparticularly to that type of machine in which knife blades are removablyheld and sharpened at opposite sides thereof.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a knife or bladeSharpener which is adapted to be power driven and is so constructed thata plurality of axially aligned sharpening disks are included, againstopposing sides of which knives or knife blades are arranged to contactunder desired pressures and in which improved means are provided toautomatically withdraw the knives or blades from one disk and direct itagainst the surface of another so that both sides of the blades will bealternately acted upon and the blade sharpened to like degrees atopposite sides thereof.

A further object of my invention is to provide new and novel means foroscillating the knives r knife blades between sharpening and grindingelements so that opposite sides of the knife or blade are alternatelyacted upon with the bevel of both sides of the knife or blade finishedat like angles.

A still further object of my invention is to provide means whereby thepressure of the knives or knife blades against the sharpening orgrinding elements can be varied and whereby novel and positive means foroscillating the knives or knife blades are provided to assure actionagainst the knives or knife blades to equal degrees at opposite sidesthereof.

A still further object of my invention is to provide simple andeffective means whereby the bevel 13 Claims. (Cl. 51-115) of the knifeblade at its cutting edge can be easily varied to meet the requirementsfor which the particular knives or knife blades being sharpened are tobe used.

With the above and other objects in view to appear hereinafter, myinvention consists of the novel features of construction and in thearrangement and combination of parts to be hereinafter described andmore particularly pointed out in the subjoined claims.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my improved knifesharpening or grinding machine.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the machine.

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the same.

Fig. 5 is a transverse section taken on line 5 5, Fig. 2, looking in thedirection of the arrow crossing said line.

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section taken on line 6 6, Fig. l looking inthe direction of the arrow crossing said line.

Fig. 'l is a longitudinal section, on an enlarged scale, of a portion ofone of the blade-tensioning means forming part of the blade oscillating`or reversing mechanism.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged section taken on line 8 8, Fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is a detailed view of the blade-carrying rock-shaft, its bearing,the standard or upright on which said bearing is formed, and a'portionof the frame on which the operating mechanism of my improved machine ismounted.

Fig. 10 is an enlarged longitudinal section through the upper end of oneof the knife or blade-carrying rock-shafts, showing the anti-fricf tionthrust bearing associated with the standard in which said rock-shaft issecured.

Fig. 11 is an enlarged `transverse section taken on line H I'LFig. 5.

Fig. l2 is an enlarged vertical section through a portion of arock-shaft standard or upright.r

Fig.13 is a detailed sectional view showing the manner of connecting thetrip levers to the lower ends of the rock-shaft standards or uprights.

Fig. 14 is a detailed sectional view showing the manner of adjustablymounting the lower ends of the standards or uprights in which the knifeor blade-carrying rock-shafts are journaled.

Fig. 15 is a longitudinal section of the bladeholder showing the sameadjustably mounted on one of the knife or blade-carrying rock-shafts.

' Fig. 16 is a transverse section through one of the sprocket chains andthe trip-roller carried thereby.

Reference being had to the drawings in detail, like numerals ofreference refer to like yparts throughout the several figures of thedrawings.'

The reference numeral 20 designates the frame or support of the machinewhich includes legs 2|, connecting a base 22 with a table 23, Formedintegral with said framel or support is a hollow depending portionserving as a reservoir 24 which is open at the top and has the upperends of its side and end walls connected to the table 23.

The frame or support, including the reservoir 24, may, as stated, becast or otherwise fashioned in one integral piece, or if desired thereservoir may be formed separately and attached to the table portion ofthe frame or support.

The said table portion may be said to have an opening therein whichforms the open top of the reservoir and at opposite sides of the openingthe frame or support is provided with suitable bear--A ings 25, in whicha drive shaft 26 is j ournaled, one end of the shaft extending anydesired distance beyond the adjacent bearing for attachment thereto ofany suitable medium vwhereby rotary of the sprocket wheels 55, which areutilized in conjunction with the sprocket chains 51 to actuate the meansfor oscillating the knives or knife blades, which may also be referredto as trip and pressure mechanism, to be presently described.

The trip and pressure mechanism referred to comprises several partsconnected to the rock shafts 43 and actuated by the sprocket chains 51,and for such purposes a bar 58 extends outwardly from each rock-shaft,the bars being entered in said rock-shafts and fastened in any approvedmanner. Each of these bars extend in an outward direction from therock-shaft to which it is secured and these bars are, therefore,directed in opposite directions. To the outer ends of these bars 58, theupper ends of links 5s are secured, said links having connection attheir lower ends with trip levers 60, one of which is pivotally securedto the lower outer end of each of the standards 3E, and for this purposea rock sleeve 62 is rotatably mounted on a pivot bolt 63 passed throughthe base of each standard 3G. The pivot bolts 53 may be reduced at theirouter ends to receive nuts 64 which bear against shoulders formed byreducing the diameter of said bolts and thus provide free rotativemovement of the sleeves into which the trip levers E!! are threaded.

I preferably connect the upper ends of the links 59 with the laterallyextending bars 58 by means of screws 6E which pass loosely through slots5l' in the upper ends of said links and enter said bars, said slotsbeing preferably of key formation with the enlargement of eachkey-formed slot at its lower end; the arrangement being such that thereis a certain amount of play provided between the bars 5B and links 59.By having the enlargements of the slots of greater diameter than thediameter of the heads of the screws 56, the parts connected by thescrews can be easily disconnected.

The connection between the trip levers and the links 59 is establishedby passing screws 55 loosely through said links and entering the screwsinto threaded openings in the outer ends of thc trip levers.

Each of the sprocket chains 5l is provided with a trip roller @3; thepintle of which serves as a means of connection between two adjacentlinks of the sprocket chain and it is to be noted that the trip rollerof each sprocket chain extends inwardly therefrom; also that the triprollers of the sprocket chains are so positioned that the pintle of oneis located on its sprocket chain exactly halfway around the chain fromthe pintle of the trip roller on the other sprocket chain, the purposefor which will appear hereinafter.

As clearly shown in Fig. 1, the trip roller 68 on the left hand sprocketchain has been brought into contact with the trip lever 6B at the sameside of the machine due to the chains being at a lesser inclination thansaid trip lever when in normal position and it has reached a point whereit will have caused maximum depression or swinging movement of said triplever. Now, upon further movement of the sprocket chain, the trip rollerwill gradually ascend and will allow said trip lever to retrieve itsnormal position. This depressed position of the trip lever Si) will havecaused the link 59 connected thereto to draw the bar 58 to which saidlink is connected downwardly, and thus the rock-shaft through which saidbar is passed will be swung in one direction to the full extent intendedfor the same. Such ,.6 movement of the rock-shaft will have brought theknife or knife blade between the intermediate disk and the left handdisk, as viewed in Fig. 4, against the latter disk and also by reason ofconnecting means to be presently described, the knife or knife bladebetween the intermediate disk and the right hand disk, as viewed inFigs. 1 and 4, will have been swung against the intermediate disk.

Such cooperation between the knives or knife blades results from thefollowing means, which comprise an angular or L-shaped rod 69 for eachrock-shaft 43, having one arm 'l0 passed through the rock-shaft and itsother arm 1 I arranged parallel with said rock-shaft, or substantiallyso. The arm 'l0 is adjustable in the rock-shaft 43 and is held inadjusted position by means of a set screw l2 threaded axially into saidrock-shaft and impinging against said arm.

The portions of the arms 10 extending downwardly through the rock-shafts43 are connected together at their lower ends by a link 13, so that therock-shafts are rocked in unison. Each rock-shaft is actuated by one ofthe trip levers Si! and the other simultaneously therewith through theconnecting link or means 'I3 between the rock-shafts provided by theangular or L-shaped rods 69 and the link 'I3 connecting the latter; thusupon rocking either of said rockshafts 43, one clockwise and the othercounterclockwise, both are actuated in the same direction.

For this purpose each angular or L-shaped rod 69 has associatedtherewith a retractile spring le', one end of which is secured to thearm 'H of said rod, while the other end is secured to a contractibledevice comprising two parts 15, T6, adjustably connected together, as at11, so that the contractible device can be lengthened or shortened todiminish or increase the tension of spring 14. It will be apparent,therefore, that the parts 69, 14, 15 and 16 form tensioning mechanismand that a quick approximate pressure adjustment for the knives or knifeblades can be made by merely adjusting the arms 'it of each L-shaped rod69 in the rock-shaft through which it is passed, and fine and finalexact pressure adjustments are made by lengthening or shortening thecontractible device.

The connecting link or means 'I3 also serves as part of the trip andpressure mechanism, or blade-tensioning mechanism as it may also betermed, by means of which the knives or knife blades are held againsttheir respective sharpening or grinding disks with the desired pressure;it being apparent that the tension of the springs i4 controls thepressure of the knives or knife blades against the sharpening orgrinding disks.

The lower end of each contractible device is rotatably mounted on astationary rod or anchor iii which is threaded into a standard 3'! andeX tends rearwardly therefrom and thence upwardly at an inclinationsubstantially at a right angle to the contractible device, forming partof the blade tensioning mechanism. In order to adjust the two parts ofthe contractible device relatively, it is simply necessary to rotate onewhile holding the other against rotation. Thus the device will beshortened or lengthened, depending on the part rotated and the directionof rotation there-- of. When a contractible device is lengthened, itsspring 74 will become slightly relieved of strain and the pressure ofthe associated knife or knife blade against its co-operating sharpeningdisk will be slightly reduced. The shortening of the contractible devicewilllresult in a corresponding increase of' pressure of the knife orknife blade against its (zo-operating sharpening disk'.

So that the contractible device may be rotatable on the stationary rodor anchor 18, the latter is provided with an annular groove` 19, intowhich a set-screw 80 is entered. The inner end of said set-screw beingreduced in diameter and unthreaded so that a free terminal is providedfor. the same which will allow free rotation of the contractible deviceon the rod orY anchor 18.

The operation of the device is as follows:

Preparatory to sharpening knives or lniife blades, a suitable liquidsubstance is placed within the reservoir 24 to a level which will assurecomplete moistening of the sharpening or grinding disks when rotatedover the area engaged by the knives or knife blades, and the. motor, notshown, for rotating the shaft 26 will, by reason of the sprocket wheels55 being secured thereto, cause movement of the sprocket chains 51.These chains in turn pass around the sprocket Wheels 5G, thus providingan orbital path of travel for the sprocket chains. It will be clear fromthe preceding description that one sprocket chain is located at eachside of themachine and that the sharpening or grinding disks 21 arelocated. between these sprocket chains.

Each sprocket chain has its trip rollers 6.8 ex.- tending inwardlytherefrom and, as stated, these are disposed relatively at directlyopposite points of the sprocket chains so that each trip. roller is idleduring the major portion of theV cycle. of movement of theY sprocketchaink from which it extends while the other is brought into actionduring a minor portion ofv the vcycles of movement of the sprocket chainfrom which it extends and always approximately midway of the idlemovement of the first-mentioned trip roller. L

These trip rollers. alternately engage the trip leversy 60, and thusthrough the mediumV of the links 55 cause the rock-shafts, which alsoserve as blade or knife blade carriers or supports to rock in oppositedirections.

Viewing the machine as shown in Fig. 4, the rock-shafts have been swungcounter-clockwise, due to the fact that the trip roller extending fromthe sprocket chain at the left of the machine has engaged the trip lever63 at the same side of the machine, and thus caused said lever to swingdownwardly and its connected link to descend, with the result that thebar 58 connected to said link has been drawn downwardly and causedcounter-clockwise movement of the left hand rock-shaft. During thisaction the angular or L-shaped rod 69 passed through said rock-,shaftwill have been swung from a position to the right of the center of saidrock-shaft to the position shown therefor at the left of said center,and by reason of the lower ends of said angular or L- shaped rods beingconnected together by the link 13, the right hand rock-shaft shown insaid figure will have been correspondingly moved.

The tensioning mechanism associated with each rock-shaft serves to holdthe arm 1| of its associated angular or L-shaped rod 69 to either theleft or right of a vertical plane passing axially through therock-shaft, and during the movement of said rock-shaft through one-halfof*A its clockwise or counter-clockwise movement, the retractile spring14 connected to said arm will have become expanded and immediately onsaid arm passing said plane, or what may be termed the dead-center, saidspring will immediately recover itself and exert its force to move thearm 1I off said angular or L-shaped rod to the left.

Such movement of the rock-shafts will cause the knives or knife blades45 carried thereon to swing against the right hand face of the left handand intermediate sharpening or grinding disks, and due to the fact thatthe knives or knife blades are firmly clamped in the knife or bladeholders and the latter are rigidly mounted on the rock-shafts, the sharpedges of the knives or knife blades will be held against the surfaces ofthe, sharpening or grinding disks at the desired angle to assure theproper bevel and sharp edge being established along the outer or thinedge of the knife or knife blade.

It is to bev noted that the knife blade holder is adjustably fastenedwithin the rock-shaft and that by unthreading the screw stud 4B theblade carrier may bel spaced a greater distance from the rock-shaft,with the result that the angularity of the bevel will be increased. Itwillbe clear therefore that variations in the bevel of the knife orknife blade being sharpened may be had by adjusting the blade holderwith respect to the rock-shaft on which it is mounted.

It is also to be noted that by reason of the rigid connection providedby the blade holder and the rock-shaft and the non-movable disposition of the knife or knife blade. within its, holder, the pressure of theblades aga-inst. the disks can be varied by varying the tension of theretractile springM, which may be accomplished by increasing or.decreasing the length of the contractible device provided by the twoparts or connected members 15 and 16, as hereinbefore stated.

It is also to be noted that each knife or knife blade can be easilyremoved from the machine, or inserted thereinto, by merely disengagingthe setscrew 8E from its annular groove 19,`and by disconnecting thelower end of the link 59 from the trip lever 60, after which the rockshaft can be withdrawn lengthwise from its bearingV 39,the width of theslot 53 of which is sufficient to anew the knife blade helder and itsstudio be passed upwardly therethrough or to be inserted downwardlytherethrough for positioning the knife or blade in operating relation toitsA sharpenin g or grinding disks.

It is also to be noted that during the rotation of thesharpening orgrinding disks the liquid within the reservoir becomes agitated so as tokeep the sharpening substance in suspension within the liquid and toassure an equal distribution thereof over the entire grinding orsharpening areas of the disks.

It is further to be understood that by reason of the trip rollers 68alternately engaging the trip levers 6i) at opposite sides of themachine, the rock-shafts are swung alternately clockwise andcounter-clockwise so that the knives or knife blades, under clockwisemovements of the rockshafts, as shown in Fig. 4, will cause the. knivesto be swung against the left hand surfaces of the intermediate and righthand sharpening and grinding disks, and under the counter-clockwisemovement said knives or knife blades will be swung against the righthand surfaces ofthe intermediate and left hand sharpening or grindingdisks.

While I have made provisions for utilizing a liquid sharpening solutionfor moistening the grinding or sharpening disks, I particularly wish tostress the fact that in many instances the disks are used without aliquid solution being applied thereto. However, when resorting to nnersharpening operations, which may be referred to as honing of the knivesor knife blades, the sharpening disks, or honing disks as they may moreparticularly be referred to, depend on the use of a sharpening solution,and it is to be understood that such sharpening solution need notnecessarily include an abrasive substance which it is necessary tomaintain in suspension, since in some instances oil may be poured intothe reservoir and serve to aid in sharpening or honing knives or knifeblades. The sharpening or honing disks may vary in abrading qualities,depending on the nature of the knives or knife blades being sharpened.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A machine for sharpening knives or knife blades, comprising asuitable support, a shaft mounted on said support, three spaced-apartaxially aligned sharpening disks secured to said shaft so as to rotatetherewith, said disks being disposed to provide a center disk and twoend disks, means for rotating said shaft, sprocket wheels on said shaftbetween which said sharpening disks are located, two shaft bearingsmounted on said support, a rock-shaft journaled in each of said shaftbearings and extending forward between adjacent sharpening disks, aknife or blade holder carried by each rock-shaft, a shaft parallel withand in spaced relation to said firstmentioned shaft, sprocket wheels onsaid lastmentioned shaft in alinement with said rstmentioned sprocketwheels, a sprocket chain trained around alined sprocket wheels at eachside of the machine, a trip device carried by each sprocket chain,combined trip and tensioning mechanism interposed between eachtripdevice and each of said rock-shafts to cause rocking movement of saidrock-shaft in a given direction, and means for connecting saidrock-shafts together so as to cause rocking movement of both rock shaftsin unison, depending on the direction of movement of the rock-shaftactuated by its cooperating trip and tension mechanism.

2. A machine for sharpening knives'or knife blades, comprising asupport, a shaft extending transversely above said support, threespacedapart sharpening disks rotatable with said shaft, sprocket wheelson said shaft between which said sharpening disks are located, standardsmounted on said support in rear of said sharpening disks, a second shaftrotatable in said standards, sprocket wheels secured to said secondshaft in alinement with first-mentioned sprocket wheels, sprocket chainstrained over each pair of alined sprocket wheels, a trip roller on eachsprocket chain, -said standards having shaft bearings at their upperends inclined downwardly and forwardly, rock shafts rockable in saidshaft bearings and extending downwardly and forwardly to positionsbetween the intermediate and outer of said three sharpening disks, saidrock-shafts lextending upwardly a distance above said shaft bearings andhaving arms extending radially therefrom, links connected to the outerends of said arms, trip levers connected to the lower ends of said linksand against each of which the trip roller of one of said sprocket wheelsis adapted to ride while traveling around said sprocket wheels, means ofconnection between said rock-shafts to cause them to rock in unison andmove said rock-shafts in like directions so as to position the knives orknife blades carried thereby against said sharpening disks, each triproller and its cooperating trip lever causing movement of said rockshafts through one-half their movements in each direction, andtensioning means to cause movement of said rock-shafts through theremaining half in each direction.

3. A knife sharpening machine, comprising a support, a shaft mounted onsaid support and having spaced-apart bearings thereon, a plurality ofaxially-alined sharpening disks arranged in spaced-apart relation onsaid shaft, rockshafts journaled in suitable bearings carried by saidsupport and arranged with one end extending centrally into eachspacebetween adjacent sharpening disks, a knife or knife blade carriedby each rock-shaft and adapted to be forced under spring pressurealternately against the two opposing faces of spaced-apart disks intowhich said rock-shaft extends so that at least one of said disks hasknives or knife blades associated therewith and disposed to contactYopposite sides thereof, a sprocket wheel on said firstmentioned shaft ateach side of the machine, sprocket wheels carried by said support inrear of and spaced from said first-mentioned sprocket wheels, a sprocketchain trained around the sprocket wheels at each side of the machine,and means interposed between said 'sprocket chains and said rock-shaftsto cause the latter to be rocked alternately in opposite directions soas to bring opposite sides of the knives or blades carried therebyagainst opposing faces of adjacent sharpening disks, said meansincluding pressure and tensioning mechanism to cause the knives orblades to be subjected to like pressures at opposite sides thereof.

4. A machine for sharpening knives or knife blades, comprising asupport, three spaced-apart rotatable sharpening disks carried by saidsupport, a rock shaft extending into each space between adjacentsharpening disks also carried by said support; knives or knife bladescarried by said rock-shafts and adapted to alternately engage saidsharpening disks, spaced-apart sprocket wheels carried by said supportand rotatable with said sharpening disks, a second pair of sprocketwheels carried by said support and alined with said rst-mentonedsprocket wheels, sprocket chains trained around alined sprocket wheelsand each sprocket chain having a trip roller, the trip roller of onesprocket chain being disposed halfway in the cycle of movement of thetrip roller of the other sprocket wheel, trip levers adapted to beengaged -and depressed by said trip rollers alternately, means betweeneach trip lever and one of said rock-shafts to cause rocking movement ofthe latter so as to swing the knife or knife blade carried therebyagainst opposing faces of adjacent sharpening disks, and means to causeeach rock-shaft to be actuated in unison with the other.

5. A knife sharpening machine, comprising a support, having a reservoirat its front end furnished with a sharpening solution, a shaft mountedon said support across the top of said reservoir, three sharpening disksrotatable with said shaft and having their lower portions normallydisposed within said sharpening solution, a pair of sprocket wheels onsaid shaft between which said sharpening disks are arranged, standardsmounted on said support in rear of said sharpening disks, a shaftjournaled in said standards, sprocket wheels on said last-mentionedshaft alined with said first-mentioned sprocket wheels, sprocket chainstrained over alined sprocket wheels at each side of the machine, a

by said knife-blade holder alternately against the sharpening disks atopposite sides of said rock-shaft, pressure and tensioning meansconnected to said rock-shaft, means for actuating said pressure andtensioning means to govern the pressure with which said knife blade isswung against said sharpening disks.

11. A machine for sharpening knives or knife blades, comprising asuitable support, a shaft transversely mounted on said support, twoaxiallyalined spaced-apart sharpening disks secured to said shaft, meansto rotate such shaft, a standard mounted on said support in planes inrear of said sharpening disks and centrally between the latter andhaving an elongated bearing at its upper end provided with a slotextending from end to end thereof, a rock-shaft journaled in saidbearing and having a knife blade mounted lengthwise thereon andprojecting radially therefrom, and means interposed between saidfirstmentioned shaft and said rock-shaft to rock the latter, saidrock-shaft being lengthwise insertable into said elongated bearing andlengthwise removable therefrom and said knife blade being removable withsaid rock-shaft through the slot in said elongated bearing.

12. A machine for sharpening knives or the like, comprising a suitablesupport, a shaft transversely mounted on said support, two axiallyalinedspaced-apart sharpening disks secured to said shaft, means to rotatesaid shaft, a standard mounted on said support in planes in rear of saidsharpening disks and centrally between the latter and having anelongated bearing at its upper end provided with a slot, a rock-shaft.lournaled in said bearing and having a knife 13. A machine forsharpening knives or knife blades, comprising a suitable support, ashaft transversely mounted on said support, two axially spaced-apartsharpening disks secured to said shaft, means to rotate said shaft, arook-shaft journaled above said support in rear of said sharpening disksand having its forward end extending between the latter, a knife orknifeblade holder carried by said rock-shaft and a knife or knife-bladesecured thereto, means to cause said rock-shaft to rock and swing saidknife or knife-blade alternately against opposing faces of saidsharpening disks including an angular rod having two arms disposed at arightangle to each other, one of said arms being passed through saidrock-shaft and the other being disposed substantially paralleltherewith, and a retractile spring connected with said substantiallyparallel arm and with a point in fixed relation to said support, saidlast-mentioned means being actuated through the medium of saidrstmentioned shaft.

ERWIN ROEDER.

`REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

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